The Good Son - 13. Chapter 13: Scott

“Uncle Henry!” Geil ran to the man when he, Daniel, and Arty arrived home. Henry stood from the couch he was sitting on with Jack and picked the boy up, smiling to him.

“Hey, Geil! My favorite nephew~” Henry pinched Geil’s plump cheek and the child frowned, but it was short lived because he was tickled into laughing. Arty rolled his eyes and walked to Jack, sitting on his husband’s lap and wrapping his arms around the man’s neck. Despite the random act of love, Jack smiled at Arty and put an arm around the brunette’s waist before being kissed.

Daniel rolled his eyes, this time.

Arty kissing Jack to upset Henry seemed to work, because the other man was watching with what looked like “Two can play this game” in his eyes. All Daniel could think of was how childish this all was. He wanted to end the game.

“Arty,” he said aloud, catching everyone’s attention. Arty looked over and smiled.

“Yeah?”

“We still need to see who’s taller.”

l.l

Jack was the designated measure, using a pencil to mark lines on the wall over everyone’s heads. First was Geil, who stood against the hallway wall with his head held up; Jack had to move his head down twice so that he could get the proper height line, and then he wrote Geil – 6. Geil stepped away from the wall and turned to look at the line, grinning happily. Then he turned to Jack with slight confusion.

“I think it’s not right,” he said. Jack laughed.

“It always looks shorter when you look at it, it’s okay,” Daniel spoke and stepped to the wall to stand next to Geil’s line. Jack stood up from kneeling to get the teen’s proper height and Geil walked poutily to Henry, who leaned against the opposite wall to watch the event.

Henry pushed off of the wall to grab Geil and lift him up into the air, sitting him on his shoulders. The boy immediately squealed in excitement.

“Ready?” Jack asked Daniel, putting the pencil over his head and pressing the tip of the led to the wall. Daniel chuckled and shrugged.

“That’s the question for Arty- I think he’s stopped growing.”

Arty scoffed and pointed. “You’d better put that ego away!” he laughed, making Daniel’s dimples show as the teen laughed, shaking his head. Jack scratched the pencil over the wall in a fine line and let Daniel move so that the teen could see it after. He looked at Arty and pointed to his height line.

“Beat that,” he said and winked, making Arty gawk before shaking his head with more laughter.

“This ego!” The man went to ruffle Daniel’s hair, the teen moving away to fix it by shaking his head and running his fingers through his curls.

Jack wrote Daniel – 16 before waving Arty over. “Come here,” he said. Arty ruffled Daniel’s hair again before going to Jack and standing against the wall. He stuck his tongue out at Daniel as Jack got the pencil ready, making the teen smile. Then Jack scratched the tip along the wall and Arty stepped away, turning to look; as did everyone else like it were something truly important.

As Jack wrote Arty – 28, he spoke aloud, “It’s a close call you guys, but...” he glanced back at everyone, “Daniel’s a little taller.”

Arty immediately broke into playful anguish, falling against the wall and banging a fist against it.

“No! No!”

Geil laughed, despite not really knowing what was going on. Jack pulled out his phone to take a picture of the lines, speaking to Henry through Arty’s hearty sobs.

“You want me to measure you?” he asked his brother, putting his camera into focus. Henry shook his head, reaching up to grab Geil and lift him off of his shoulders, putting him on the floor.

“No, I’m alright. I think I’m actually gonna go and set up that guest room,” Henry said. Jack nodded while taking the shot, looking at the picture to make sure it was alright before locking his phone and putting it back into his pocket. Geil went to pat Arty’s side when he saw that Daniel was patting the man’s back, the older brunette wiping fake tears away and sighing.

“Okay, I think I’m alright now,” Henry heard Arty say as he walked off to the guest room, which was beside the art room. Glancing back at the group, he could see Arty putting an arm around Daniel’s shoulder to hug the teen with a big smile, looking down at Geil while petting the child’s hair. Then Jack walked over to the three to talk to them and Henry looked back down the hallway, briefly catching Daniel looking at him.

Watching Henry walk down the hallway, Daniel tilted his head slightly, examining his behavior. He looked envious. Of the family, perhaps?

l.l

“You have an uncle?” Laura asked Daniel during lunch, the other teen nodding.

“Both of my adoptive parents have siblings, only one’s is dead.”

“But you uncle is staying with you for a while?” Joe asked. Daniel shrugged.

“I suppose so. Support, or something.”

“Hm. Well, I have good news!” Laura clapped her hands together. Daniel and Joe looked at her and she continued, “My aunt says Morrison is awake! Or at least, he has been, but he’s been having some physical therapy and stuff because the loss of oxygen to his brain. I mean, he’s doing a lot better now.”

Joe pressed his lips together, eyebrows knit together in concern. “Loss of oxygen?”

Laura nodded. “Whatever happened to him cut off his airway and deprived his brain from air for a while- like hanging victims. But my aunt says he’s doing okay.”

It took a moment of seeing the look on Joe’s face for Laura to remember that he and Morrison were friends, and that she had probably upset him. She gasped and put a hand to her mouth.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have-”

“It’s okay, Laura.” Joe looked down, rubbing his neck. Daniel watched the noirette.

Joe didn’t know that Daniel was the one to put Morrison in the hospital. What would he do if he knew?

“Hey, Daniel,” a quiet, girly voice sounded from behind the teen, making him look back to see who it was. Joe also turned in his seat to see, while Laura just looked up, sitting across from them.

It was a girl from Daniel’s first hour, named Madison. She looked nervous.

“Yes?” Daniel asked after a moment of the girl standing there shyly. She blinked in surprise and winced at her own embarrassment before holding out an envelope in a shaky hand. Daniel dropped his gaze from her face to the envelope, taking it after a moment of not wanting to. Once he took it, Madison turned on her heel and scampered away, and Daniel sighed before turning back in his seat to look the envelope over.

“What is it?” Joe asked, spinning in his seat to lean on the table and look in curiosity. Laura gasped before squealing.

“It’s a love note, isn’t it?” she cried like a school girl, grinning wildly. Joe looked at Daniel.

“Is it?”

Daniel rolled his eyes and just handed the envelope to Laura when the girl reached out for it. She tore it open excitedly with a light cackle.

“This is the third girl to ask you out,” she said while slipping the letter from inside. Daniel shrugged simply.

It had been the third; the others being Samantha, who Daniel didn’t even know, and a girl named Carla from his seventh hour. The difference being, Samantha asked with a group of friends, and Carla asked after school. The similarity? Daniel said no.

“Can I read it?” Laura asked. Daniel gave a light “Sure”. “You probably don’t notice me much,” Laura read, “But I sit beside you in Spanish and really-”

Daniel stood from the table, making Laura pause in her reading of the letter to look at him.

“What are you doing?” she asked, folding the letter some to keep it from prying eyes. Daniel turned from the table, stalking off.

“I’m going to the bathroom,” he called back to her. She puffed and looked at Joe, who looked from Daniel to her.

“...I’m gonna go after him,” he said. Laura groaned and started putting the letter back into the envelope, poking herself with a corner of the paper on accident because: letters are always difficult to fit into envelopes.

“Fine,” she grumbled.

Walking out of the cafeteria, Daniel headed down the hallway of locker filled walls, closing his eyes in annoyance when he heard footsteps behind him.

“You’re following me,” he said, looking behind at Joe. The noirette rolled his eyes and grabbed Daniel’s arm, pulling the brunette to a stop with a quick “Then stop walking”.

“Okay, what is it?” Daniel asked flatly. Joe let him go to cross his arms.

“Why do you keep ignoring people asking you out?”

Daniel snorted. “Joe, I don’t want to date anyone. What does it matter?” he asked, giving an exasperated sigh when he noticed how straight Joe’s expression was. “What?” he spoke once more. “Like I said, I really don’t want to date anyone. What, are you jealous or something? Because I’m not into the “dating scene”.”

Joe opened his mouth to say something but an upperclassman suddenly came over, tapping the teen’s shoulder and making him look at them.

“Joe Hines? Mrs. Tate wants you,” the upperclassman said, making Joe sigh and turn away from Daniel to follow along to the classroom. Daniel watched for a moment before going to continue down the hallway, but just as he turned, he came face-to-face with Kaiden and three of his friends. Pausing, Daniel stared at Kaiden as the teen put an arm around the brunette’s shoulders.

“Let’s go, huh Daniel?”

l.l

Walking outside to the courtyard, Daniel was led by Kaiden and his goons to a small storage unit, where the teen could hear the light sound of a dog’s whimpering. Once the teenagers were hidden by the side of the building, Daniel dropped his gaze to see Chunky, pinned to the ground by another student holding the dog’s neck. He looked at Kaiden.

“What do you want?” he asked. Kaiden smiled and held up some papers.

“I saw you playing with this dog, so I want you to kill it. Or,” Kaiden fanned the papers, “I tell everyone about your case file.”

Daniel stared at Kaiden intently, the bully fully aware that he was under the brunette’s skin and loving it, smiling at Daniel teasingly. Daniel looked at Kaiden’s friends before looking back to Chunky, who was looking up at the teen and whimpering, lying flat on its belly in the snow.

“Hand him the knife, Braiden,” Kaiden said to a taller kid, who reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a pocket knife. Daniel exhaled deeply through his nose and took the knife from Braiden, opening it and looking down at the shiny blade. He could hear a tiny whisper from a boy, “Do you think this is a good idea,” to another. Daniel looked back at Kaiden.

“What will you do if I don’t care?” he asked. Kaiden gave a confused look.

“Huh?”

“If I don’t kill the dog, and I don’t care about the papers?”

“Just do it!” Kaiden shoved Daniel, making the teen stumble lightly before catching himself. He actually knew why Kaiden was doing this. Because he had lost a friend; Joe. So he’d make Daniel lose his, too. Although, a little more graphically. Daniel didn’t want to be noticed in school though, and that’s just what the papers would do. The look in Kaiden’s eyes said that he wanted to hurt Daniel regardless, today. And he had friends who could help him.

“Kill the dog or I’m gonna kill you,” Kaiden said angrily. Daniel dropped the knife and Kaiden rose a fist to punch him, but the brunette spoke up.

“I’m not a coward. I don’t need a knife,” he said. Two kids looked at each other and another went to pick up the knife as Daniel dropped down to his knees beside Chunky. The boy holding the dog let it go, moving away, and Daniel let it crawl into his lap.

He pet the dog’s brown fur, scratching it along the ears as it tried to crawl further into his lap. Kaiden scowled as Daniel continued petting the dog, lightly brushing the fur from its face.

“Kill it, Scott,” Kaiden spat, making Daniel look up at him. Some students started to murmur.

“His name is Scott?”

“He’s Daniel, right?”

“Did he get his name changed?”

Kaiden continued scowling at Daniel, the other teen watching him while petting Chunky softly. Then Kaiden looked at his friends.

“His last name is Scott,” he said to them, Daniel dropping his gaze back to Chunky. “And he has that ugly scar because-”

Crack!

Chunky’s head fell into Daniel’s lap, lifeless with its eyes open, gazing. Daniel slipped his hands from the dog’s broken neck. Looking back up from the dog’s corpse, he could see that the teens standing around were either apprehensive or disgusted. Kaiden looked mad, as though his point hadn’t come across. It hadn’t.

Lying Chunky’s body softly into the snow, Daniel stood up, exhaling deeply through his nose. He watched the teenagers for a moment to see if there was anything more to be said or done, but no one did anything, not even Kaiden. Daniel held out a hand to the teen.

“The papers,” he said. Kaiden glared at him for a moment before crumbling the papers into a ball and throwing it at Daniel, hitting the teen in the chest. Daniel narrowed his eyes at Kaiden in annoyance but knelt down to snatch the ball from the snow, shoving it into his jacket pocket. Turning away from the group and dog’s corpse, he headed back to the school, a two minute walk to the front doors.

Approaching the school building and pulling a heavy door open, the teen stepped into the school and slammed the door shut behind him, the glass of the window rattling in its big frame.

He left to the school gym, where he was stopped by Mr. Long standing at the entrance.

“Mason,” the teacher said, making Daniel look at him. “They’ve been calling you on the com for a while; you need to go to the office.” Daniel gave a confused look and Mr. Long motioned to the teen. “You okay? You look a little out of breath.” Daniel wiped a hand over his face, where he caught sweat beading at his forehead. Was he that upset?

“I’ll go,” he said and quickly turned away from the coach to leave to the office. Walking there, it felt like all the students in the hall were looking at him. He ran a hand through his hair to try and clear his mind while walking to the office. What was he upset over? Hurting the dog, or Kaiden saying Scott? He had killed plenty of animals in the past, what was different this time?

“Damn,” he muttered to himself, shaking his head. He was getting further into his thoughts.

Turning a corner, the teen went to the office and knocked on the door.

“Come in,” Meathead sounded from inside. Daniel entered the office, putting his hands in his pockets after noticing that his palms were clammy. Stepping further inside the office, Daniel could see someone sitting in a chair, their back to him. He looked at Meathead, who motioned while looking at the seated person, as though they didn’t hear the door open.

“Daniel’s here,” he said. The person seated looked back and Daniel could see that it was Arty. He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion at seeing the man. Why was he there?

Standing from the chair, Arty walked to Daniel and took the teen into a tight hug that confused him further. He slipped a hand from his pocket to touch Arty’s back lightly when he heard a sniffle from the man. He didn’t want to ask what happened because he was too confused, and Arty spoke up anyway, letting Daniel go to wipe his teary eyes.

“John called,” the man said, looking at Daniel through glassy blue eyes. “Shelly didn’t wake up.”

“...What do you mean?”

Arty sniffed again and cleared his throat, putting a hand on Daniel’s shoulder. “I’m bringing you and Geil home for the rest of the day, is that okay?” he asked. Daniel looked passed him at Meathead, who nodded like it had already been discussed. The teen looked back to Arty.

“...Okay,” he said. “Just, let me get my things.” Arty nodded and smoothed his hair from his face, sighing.

“I’m gonna be out in the car.”

Daniel nodded and left the office to his locker, where he started getting his things. His phone vibrated in his pants pocket and he pulled it out to flip it open.

2 NEW MESSAGES.

JOE: office wants you.

JOE: where are you?

Daniel slapped his phone shut and put it away to finish getting everything. Once he shoved everything into his bag, he left the school to Arty’s car, where the man sat inside with his head on his hand. Daniel got inside.

“Are you alright?” he asked Arty, the man’s eyes closed.

“No. I get migraines when I… cry.”

Daniel watched Arty for a moment before leaning over the man to twist the key in the ignition, turning the car on. Then he turned on the car’s heater, because it was exceptionally cold outside. But then, he noticed something lacking.

Turning in his seat, he looked at the back seat and saw that it was empty, void of Geil or any of his things. He looked back to Arty.

“Art, where’s Geil?”

Arty sighed and opened his eyes, glancing at Daniel. “I didn’t pick him up yet.” He shifted in his seat to be in a better position to drive and moved the car into the road.

“Why didn’t you ask Henry to come in your stead?” Daniel asked. Arty shook his head lightly while driving.

“I needed to get out of the house.”

“...Did he do something?”

Arty looked at Daniel. “Why are you asking these things?”

“I’m just concerned for you, is all.”

“No, it’s okay. I just… want some company right now,” Arty said and wiped his eyes when his vision got blurry from more tears. Daniel reached out to touch the man’s arm, offering him a smile despite being upset himself. It seemed to make Arty lift up a bit, because he gave Daniel a small smile in return. Then, he looked back to the road to drive. He cleared his throat.

“Henry’s only staying long enough to get a job, he shouldn’t stay with us long,” he said. Daniel nodded in acknowledgment.

“Okay. Shall I go in to get Geil?”

Arty sighed. “...If you want to. Or, I’d be grateful if you did.”

The rest of the ride was quiet until they got Geil. Arty had to call the school and tell them his adoptive brother was picking him up after checking the child out, and then Geil sang a new song he learned at school the whole ride home. Or, to their next stop, at least, because Arty made a detour instead of taking them to the house. He drove them to a McDonald’s, where he and Daniel sat seated by a window and watching Geil play on the big toy; Arty was making excuses to delay their ride home, like “We should get some groceries” or “Let’s stop for a quick meal”. Daniel didn’t question Arty anything, but he was sure that Arty just didn’t want to spend any time with Henry.

“Does Jack know?” Daniel asked, looking up from his untouched food to Arty, who also hadn’t touched his meal. The man shook his head.

“I’m gonna… wait until he’s home. I don’t want to distract him when he’s at work.”

“...How is their baby?”

“Probably okay, Johnathon would make sure.”

Daniel reached across the table to put his hand over Arty’s, and then he lay his head down on the table. Arty shifted his hand until he was holding Daniel’s, and then Daniel could feel the man petting his head of dark curls softly.

“It’s okay, Daniel.”